//------------------------------// // Many Meetings in a strange world // Story: Erinn // by Artaelian //------------------------------// ‘Can you hear me?’ Princess Celestia shifted slightly in her sleep as a result of the sudden voice. ‘Ah... so you can hear me...’ She was now both awake and asleep. Princess Celestia looked around at the ruins in a black void, ahead of her, standing in a single beam of light was a creature not of Equestria, but clearly it was female based on the soft sounding voice. Its hands were held close together above the chest, the eyes closed, and the black hair hung down behind its head, between two black wings. ‘This is a difficult request... Come to this world. Tir Na Nog... Is in great danger...’ Princess Celestia was now fully awake, and she slowly sat up in bed. Her sister’s moon hung low on the western horizon, signalling that the dawn would soon arrive. She yawned, her sleep having been disturbed, and thought of the message that had arrived in her dream. The being seemed desperate for assistance. Slowly, she begun to think of who she could send to fulfill the request of this being, and reasons why they should or shouldn’t be sent. Eventually, her mind settled on the perfect choice, or rather choices. Six ponies that had done the impossible before, and could just as easily do it again. -- A slight breeze rustled through the purple mane of the purple unicorn, slowly rousing her from the deep sleep she had been in. Her ears twisted around in all directions, trying to pick up any sound before she opened her eyes, but the only sound she heard were the light snores of five other ponies. Wait, that couldn’t possibly be right, she thought to herself, slowly opening her purple eyes. Sure enough, laying in various positions around her were five other ponies. The blue pegasus mare with a rainbow mane lay directly before her, two front hooves acting as a makeshift pillow under her head. To the left of her lay a pink earth pony, with a pink cotton candy looking mane, alongside an orange earth pony with a straight blonde mane and cowpony hat. Finally, to her right lay a yellow pegasus mare, with pink mane and a white unicorn with a deep purple mane. The purple unicorn wasted no time in identifying her friends, the bearers of the Elements of Harmony. But the situation didn’t make sense. Why were they in the same place, all in a deep sleep? Twilight sat up and examined the area. The sky was a soft pink, and around this were white structures that formed the support of the area they were on. Now and then, snowy white owls, and grey owls would fly around these support structures, and disappear into the distance almost as soon as they had appeared. Underneath the six ponies was a large pattern of twisting loops and straight lines, this was where they currently were, though the rest of the floor was transparent and glasslike. In one direction was a staircase, it seemed to head downward, but quickly disappeared out of sight. As Twilight examined the area around her, the five other ponies slowly roused themselves awake. Like her, they were similarly confused to their current whereabouts. “Twilight, where the hay are we?” Rainbow Dash asked first, beating the rest to the question. “How should I know? I woke up just a minute before you. But it doesn’t look like any place I’ve ever seen before.” Twilight replied, studying the pattern on the ground. “Alright, looks like we’re stuck here for some reason,” Applejack finally spoke up, having watched events so far, “rather than waste energy, let’s try to remember how we got to be here.” All six ponies looked in various directions, as they begun to try and recall their memories prior to waking up. “Well, I remember Twilight mentioning that we all had to go to Canterlot, minus Spike, for some reason.” Rarity recalled. “Oh yeah, now I remember! Princess Celestia said it was important and we had to get there fast,” Twilight added, “guess that explains why Spike isn’t here.” “But then what?” Fluttershy questioned, starting to panic. “I-I remember we met the Princess in the throne room, she said the task ahead of us was important and vital, and,” Twilight froze, a look of fear appearing on her face, “then everything went black.” she said, barely above a whisper. “So the princess did this to us? But why?” Applejack questioned. “I-I don’t know, it doesn’t make sense! It did at the time, but now I can’t remember a word of it! We didn’t do anything wrong, but why are we imprisoned here?” Twilight was now panicking herself, eyes darting about. All six froze when a bright light filled the area. Once it dissipated, above the pattern on the floor floated a strange creature. It landed and stood on its hind legs, crossing its conspicuously shorter fore legs in front of it. It had a long white mane, no coat, pale skin and blue eyes. The biped creature stood there, looking at all six ponies with a smile upon its face, and a kind, gentle look in its eyes. “Welcome, Milletians, to the world of Erinn!” it said. Twilight, Pinkie, Fluttershy, Applejack and Rarity stared at the creature, very confused both by what it was and what it had just called them. Rainbow Dash however, had gotten up and flown into the creature’s face. “What did you just call us?” she snapped. The creature seemed shocked and hurt by the sudden display of aggression, almost as if it were on the verge of tears. “Milletians. It means ‘from the stars’.” the creature replied. “Okay, and where exactly are we?” Twilight asked, carefully approaching the creature. “You are in the world of Erinn, summoned here by the Goddess. My name is Nao, and I am here to assist you in getting to know this world before you begin your journey.” Nao answered, smiling at Twilight. “Ok, so, next question. What exactly are you?” Rarity questioned, sitting down. “Ah,” Nao laughed slightly, holding a hand in front of her mouth, “I suppose the world you came from doesn’t have humans. You’ll be seeing a lot of humans in Erinn, but keep in mind, you will retain your current looks right now.” The six mares looked at each other for a moment, each hoping one of the others would think of a question to ask. Soon, Twilight cleared her throat, making it clear she was about to speak. “Alright, so why exactly have we been brought here?” she asked. “The situation in Erinn is grim,” Nao sighed, tilting her head down which caused some of her hair to slip out of place, “the humans, named the Tuatha De Dann, struggle daily in a conflict with the Formors. The Formors believe the world belong to them, and that all Tuatha De Dann must be killed. By the request of the goddess, you have been brought here to help end the conflict and bring peace to the world.” None of the six mares spoke, as they took in the information that had been given to them. They had been taken from Equestria, a relatively peaceful world, to this Erinn place, simply to take part in a conflict. And without the Elements of Harmony? As they attempted to take in the facts of their situation, Nao had produced six letters, which she handed to the six mares, along with loaves of bread for each mare. Twilight was confused as to where Nao had produced these items, considering the clothing Nao wore had no pockets, and there wasn’t a box or bag in sight. “Okay,” Nao beamed a smile of hope at the six mares, “you are all set! When you arrive, hand the letters to the village chief, it will explain to him that you are not formors, and he will pass word around that you six are safe to approach. I shall now send you on your way, good luck and we shall meet again!” Nao finished. Much like she had appeared, Nao lifted into the air slightly, defying gravity, and pushing Twilight’s mind to breaking point. With a flash of light, everything went white. -- A man watched as six shapes fell soundlessly towards Erinn. His black robe, with gold trim and celtic patterns obscured his face from sight. On his back were two white wings, which remained still as he floated, observing the fall of the six equines that had appeared in the Soul Stream. “This is your game? Use them for your purposes, when the humans failed you? You are a fool, your plan stops here.” he said to himself, raising an arm. Around him black shadows built up. In seconds, they were speeding as fast as they could from the man to the six falling mares. Rainbow Dash was the only one to see the incoming attack. Moments before the shadows impacted, she managed to grab a hold of Applejack and Rarity. There was a the sudden confusion. With Rarity screaming in Rainbow’s ear, blocking out the words Applejack tried to yell above the combined sound of the scream and roar of wind, the blue pegasus looked around for Twilight, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy. They were nowhere to be found, having apparently been blasted far away by the attack. Rainbow gritted her teeth. She hoped they would land fine. She looked down at the rapidly approaching ground. She watched and spread her wings. Features of the land begun to appear: a river passing by a windmill, a house on the opposite side. A bit further away was a large tree. It seemed to have been made the central focus of the small town they were landing towards, as other, hay covered roofed buildings circled it. Rainbow closed her eyes, just as the three mares impacted the ground. -- Rainbow groaned slightly, as something dull repeatedly pushed her in her side. Slowly, she opened her eyes. The sight that met her was that of a grassy embankment, with a crystal clear river flowing past, the water frothing on rocks and signboards that protruded from the surface, and shifting the water grass within the water. At a split in the river, a fence made of wood which was held in place on metal rails blocked the flow of the river down one side. A short distance away and behind were bridges which crossed the river, and sitting on the middle island was a windmill, similarly made of brick with a straw roof, and past this was another building, fairly large, but identically made from brick, wood and straw. In the sky, the sun shone down on a cloudless day. It was perfect, save for the fact she was on the ground, not a cloud, and whatever was pushing into her side. Choosing to ignore whatever was pushing her, she moved her head and saw Rarity and Applejack, both of whom had clearly survived the impact, as they too were waking up. Rainbow smiled, happy that at least two of her friends were safe. Turning her head the other way, Rainbow saw a brick and wood built house, the bricks exposed to the weather, the roof of the house was in half, part made from wood, the other half being covered with straw. A part of this house was open wide both on the side she was on, and to the area behind, and it contained many tools, anvils and a furnace. Beside the part of the house that was wide open on both sides stood a splitting wooden frame, which held cloth, clearly indicating how the area was closed off at night. Just past this was a wooden decking, and a pair of double doors indicated the way into the living space of the house. Glancing to her side, she froze. The pushing on her side was the result of a foot, covered in tatty leather shoes, kept on by string. This was attached to a leg, and looking further up, Rainbow was met by the sight of a short, blue haired human with a beard, a pair of tanish coloured shorts and a blue vest hung on the man’s body, his red eyes looking at her with slight disinterest. “Now aren’t you the strangest three horses to just appear. One of you would be normal, if not for the orange coat, but one with wings and the other a horn? Oh well, maybe I can take you to a stable and your owner will come along eventually.” he said. “OWNER? What do you think I am chump? Somepony’s pet?” Rainbow yelled. -- It had become very clear why Nao had given them letters and expected the ponies to have a safe trip. No sooner had she shouted at the man Rainbow later learned was named Ferghus, than he had grabbed weaponry he kept nearby and gave chase to her, Rarity and Applejack, all the while yelling “Blasted formors! Get out of our town!”. The chase had come to a quick end thankfully, before Ferghus could use the weapons on them. At a nearby bridge, Ferghus tripped on his own tied together shoes and fallen into the water, a note falling from his clothing had simply said ‘This is for breaking my expensive sword, hope your nose gets just as broken!’. All Ferghus could do from then was watch the three ponies run off to the town square from where he sat in the river, trying to untie the knotted laces. Rainbow, Rarity and Applejack panted, trying to catch their breath in the middle of the town, Rarity and Applejack glaring at Rainbow, who grinned sheepishly. “Sorry, but he implied we were pets.” Rainbow stated. “Rainbow, didn’t ya stop and think this here is a different world? Maybe they ain’t used to talking ponies, and the only ones are pets?” Applejack questioned. “Now you put it that way,” Rainbow answered, earning an exasperated groan from Rarity and Applejack, “anyway, we better find the chief Nao mentioned and give him these letters.” Nearby, a random human that had been walking by stopped, turning to look at the three ponies. “Excuse me, did I hear you say you were looking for the chief?” he asked. “Uh yeah?” Rainbow replied. “He’s just up there, past the town’s flag and the tree on the hill, did you have trouble trying to find him before?” the human asked again. “No, we just had a little misunderstanding with that crazy guy by the river, before he tripped up.” Rainbow answered. The human laughed slightly, muttering something under his breath that sounded like ‘and he wonders why no one will take anything to him to be fixed.’, before he simply waved his hand and continued on his way. “Well now, shall we go and meet this chief?” Rarity asked, standing up. Saying nothing, the three ponies walked up the small hill and past the tree that stood half way. -- The chief was an elderly looking human, his hair turning white, his brown eyes showing the years lived behind them. At first, he had been unwillingly to look at the three ponies, but changed his attitude when the letters from Nao had been shown. He was currently in the process of reading one over and over, stopping to look at the ponies, before he resumed reading once more. Finally, he finished reading, and folded up the letter, tucking it away into his clothing. He smiled at them in turn. “If Nao met you, and indeed, letters from her can not be faked, then I trust her word that you are not formors. I shall pass word around of your names and descriptions, so you will meet no further trouble.” he stated, in a soft welcoming tone of voice. “In that case, introductions are in order. My name is Rarity, this is Applejack,” she paused to point at the cowmare to her left, “and this is Rainbow Dash.” she finished, pointing to the blue pegasi, currently attempting and for some reason failing to take flight. “A pleasure, I am Chief Duncan. The man you met earlier was Ferghus. I shall be having a word with him about greeting newcomers to our town, but I hope you can forgive him, he is usually pleasant enough.” Duncan smiled. “So what do we do now?” Applejack questioned. “Well its simple. From Nao’s letter, there was supposed to be six of you little ponies standing before me, but only three do. If you had trouble when arriving, then it is safe to assume the other three are alive somewhere,” Duncan paused, folding his arms across his chest, “the solution is simple. What you three do next is learn to fight the Formors who could get in your way of finding the others.” The three ponies watched as Duncan closed his eyes, apparently going into deep thought. He remained still, the only thing moving being his hair in the slight breeze, before he opened his eyes once more. “To start with, I suggest you head up there,” he pointed to a path that led north, “and find Trefor. He shall teach you the basics of combat. Good luck.” -- Further up the path that Duncan had shown them, Rainbow Dash, Applejack and Rarity came across another human, surrounded by brown foxes. The human, another man, was covered head to toe in black armor, and all that was visible of his face was his mouth, the rest covered by a helmet. As they approached him, the man they assumed was Trefor spun on the spot suddenly, striking at all the brown foxes, some clearly just cubs, ending their lives with the sword in his hand as he spun. They froze and stared in horror at the sight for a moment, which changed to confusion when the bodies of the foxes simply imploded into black vapour a moment after their deaths. Rainbow Dash was the first to brave getting close to him, it becoming clear he had been looking at them as his head tilted down when Rainbow progressed towards him. “Um, excuse me, are you by any chance, Trefor?” she questioned. “Indeed I am little pony, and I have a question for you,” Trefor stooped down, apparently to look Rainbow in the eye, “are you ready to die?”